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Glossary

Main's World has its own vocabulary. Here's what everything means.

  • Main — an account on Main's World. (You're a Main.)
  • Stage name — the name a Main chooses to go by. Every stage name is unique: capitalization and spacing don't make a name different, so once someone is "DJ Neon", nobody else can be "dj neon". You can change or clear yours whenever you like, and a name you give up becomes free for someone else to take.
  • SHIP — a Secure Human Interaction Protocol: the category Main's World belongs to. See What is SHIP.
  • Mini app — an app that runs inside World App instead of being installed on its own. Main's World is one, which is why there is nothing in an app store called "Main's World". See Getting started.
  • Orb — a device that confirms in person, once, that you are a unique human. In Main's World it unlocks the Vault, where $MAIN is claimed; everything else works without it. See Getting started.
  • Moment — a post: a caption and/or photo or video, recorded where and when you are. See Moments.
  • Content Credentials — a small record some cameras and many image generators tuck inside an image file, describing how the picture was made. Main's World reads it to keep generated images off the public map; a picture without one is never treated as suspect. See what can go on the public world.
  • The worlds — the three settings that decide who can see a moment:
    • SKY — public: anyone can see it.
    • LAND — your connections: only people you've connected with.
    • DEEP — private: yours alone, unless you tag someone in.
  • SPACE — the confirmed connected-app world, which gathers authorized content supplied by external apps. SPACE is a viewing and navigation concept, not a fourth privacy setting; app content still lives in SKY, LAND, or DEEP. Its new fourth-world map controls are being redesigned. See the worlds & privacy.
  • Earth — the real-world map where Main's World moments and authorized app content appear together.
  • SPACE/EARTH switcher — a fixed control planned for moving between SPACE, where apps are discovered and managed, and the Earth map. Its first version was rolled back and is not live while the interaction is redesigned.
  • World filters — the current SKY, LAND, and DEEP controls that decide which privacy worlds appear on the map and in the moments list, alongside choices for audience and content from other apps. They change only your view, never who can open a moment. See the worlds & privacy.
  • Vibe — a live, shared gathering on the map — hosted, never owned. See Vibes.
  • Host — a Main or crew named on a vibe as the ones behind the gathering. The Main who starts a vibe is always a host and can name others. Hosting is credit, not control: it gives no special power over who can see or join, but hosts keep the gathering's cover image and invite links, and they share in the appreciation its moments earn. See Vibes and The economy.
  • Future Vibe — a vibe planned ahead of time, with a start, an optional end, and a place. Joining one before it starts is an RSVP. See Vibes.
  • Crew — a lasting group of Mains. You can create one, invite people, join, or bail today. Shared ownership, wallets, and member-approved splits are still planned. See Crews.
  • Follow — a lighter, one-way tie: you keep up with a Main without either of you having to connect. Their public (SKY) moments carry a small marker in your lists, and you can narrow the moments list to just the Mains you follow. Following never opens anything private — it grants no access to LAND or DEEP.
  • Appreciation (thumbs up) — the way you tell someone their moment or comment mattered. An eligible first thumbs up on a moment mints 1 $MAIN shared by its author and tagged Mains other than the voter; on a comment, another Main's first thumbs up gives the commenter 1 $MAIN. There are no downvotes, and appreciating your own work never pays you.
  • Heart — appreciation for a vibe itself, or for a comment in its talk. The first heart you ever give a particular vibe or talk comment costs one energy credit and gives 1 $MAIN — shared by the vibe's hosts and attendees, or given to the comment's author. Like a thumbs up, it can be taken back and given again freely after that, and a heart never pays the Main giving it. See The economy.
  • Vibe talk — the comment thread that belongs to a vibe as a whole, rather than to any one moment. See Vibes.
  • Energy credits — your daily fuel for doing things (posting, appreciating, commenting). You get 10 a day.
  • Energy burned — the running total of energy credits the whole community has spent on posting, appreciating and commenting. Spent credits are gone rather than moved: nothing anyone burns becomes anyone else's balance. See The economy.
  • App connection — a link you choose to make between Main's World and another app you use, letting that app send moments into your world. Connected apps are reviewed and managed in SPACE; their authorized moments also appear on Earth under their chosen SKY, LAND, or DEEP privacy. RunPal is live, and more apps are planned. See Roadmap.
  • $MAIN — the earned currency, created only by eligible appreciation on a moment you authored or were tagged in, or a comment you wrote. You can't buy it or give it to yourself. See The economy.
  • Special link — a web link a creator can make for one of their moments (or a vibe they're part of) that lets anyone watch that one thing in any browser — no World App, no account. View-only, and revocable at any time: killing the link kills every copy. See the worlds & privacy.
  • Tape deck — the strip of time-travel controls that unfolds from the rewind button at the bottom of the map: scrub the timeline, skip between moments, or eject back to now. See Moments.
  • Time travel (◀◀) — rewinding the map's timeline, using the tape deck, to revisit earlier moments.
  • Throwback (◀◀ THROWBACK) — a moment posted from your gallery after the fact. Its timestamp is when the photo was actually taken, and it carries a small ◀◀ THROWBACK marker so it isn't mistaken for a live one. See Moments.
  • Ghost dot — a small, faint, world-colored dot on the map marking a moment outside your current filters, or a connections-only moment from someone you haven't connected with yet. It shows only that something is there — never who or what. Turning on a filtered world can reveal moments you are allowed to open; unavailable LAND moments stay dots. See the worlds & privacy.
  • Sign-in code — the square code, and the four characters beside it, that a computer shows so your phone can sign it in. It lasts a few minutes, works once, and should only ever be approved from a screen you are sitting in front of. See Signing in.
  • Zero-knowledge proof — cryptography that can prove a statement without revealing the underlying private information. Main's World records any verification status separately from wallet sign-in.
  • World App — the app that provides the wallet used to sign in to Main's World. A sign-in proves wallet control; it is not by itself a recorded personhood or uniqueness check.
  • World Chat — World App's own end-to-end encrypted messenger. Main's World had a button that opened a draft conversation there; it was removed in August 2026, so there is no messaging in Main's World today. See the worlds & privacy.